Brooklyn band Shark? graciously sent me their garage-tastic cover of the Beat Happening‘s Christmas to share with you all as as a taste of a fantastic holiday compilation / benefit album project they’re involved in. The album’s called Do you EAR what I EAR? and it’s been put together by Ear Farm and Let ‘Em In Studios. It’s available for a $5 donation and all of the proceeds from this project will go directly to the Association to Benefit Children, an outstanding New York-based service dedicated to permanently breaking the cycles of abuse, neglect, sickness and homelessness among disadvantaged children and their families. Check out the amazing array of artists involved and the full tracklisting below.

Do you EAR what I EAR?
1. “Welcome Christmas” performed by Mancino
2. “A Day in the Life of a Christmas Tree” performed by Dinosaur Feathers
3. “Il est né” performed by Tom Tom Club
4. “Christmas Time in Hell” performed by Lonnie Walker
5. “This Christmas Day” performed by Jean on Jean
6. “Little Drummer Girls” performed by Marie Stella
7. “Christmas” performed by Shark?
8. “Christmas Eve Blues” performed by Julie Doiron
9. “First Snow” performed by Nadim Issa
10. “The Slay Bell Suite: Mrs. Claus and Matzo Balls” performed by Frauke
11. “If You Hear a Knock” performed by Sean Bones
12. “Christmas Day (Or, A Hungry Dog Will Fight)” performed by Beau Jennings
13. “Happy Christmas” performed by The Poison Control Center
14. “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” performed by Goes Cube
15. “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)” performed by Asobi Seksu
16. “Blue Christmas” performed by Sharon Van Etten

Hey Philly and beyond, come on out to the North Star this Friday night for the Chris Tucker tribute, I’ll be helping my friends at Girl About Town with the silent auction stop by and say hi.

Here’s more info via Girl About Town:On Friday October 17th, six area bands will gather at the North Star Bar in Philadelphia to honor Christopher Tucker. Chris was our friend who passed away this summer, and he was a talented musician and overall great guy who touched a lot of people in Philadelphia and beyond. The night will serve as a benefit for his young son Jackson. A $10 minimum donation will be requested at the door, advance tickets are now available via North Star Bar and Ticketweb.

The evening’s lineup will include:– Fleetwood Mike (acoustic version’s of Fleetwood Mac tunes as performed by Audible members Mike and Kris)– Joey Sweeney and Friends (Chris’ editor at Philebrity.com where Chris was a contributor)– The Blood Feathers– The Sky Drops (featuring Rob Montejo from Smashing Orange, and Monika Bullette from Nero, two of Chris’ closest friends in the Delaware music scene)– The Sunshine Recorder (featuring members of The Cobbs)– The Asteroid #4 (stalwarts of the Psychedelphia scene of which Chris was such a fan).

Musicians will perform their own tunes and some of the performers will feature covers of Chris’ work.A special video will also be screened for the first time. Just a week before his passing, Chris recorded his last song and created a video for it as well with local artist Nico. The video was to be completed as a concept in two parts, however only the first part was completed, that first part will be screened and will allow fans of Chris to hear new music from Chris one more time.

Girl About Town is also organizing a silent auction benefit to run the night of the event. If you have anything to donate, please contact us, it’s not too late. Thank you and see you there!

Portland’s Arena Rock Records took some of Portland’s finest musicians – The Decemberists, Dandy Warhols, Chris Walla and more and paired each of their talents up with a classic cover song. The end result was the excellent 19 song collection called Bridging The Distance.

Not only is it a fantastic collection of songs, all of the proceeds benefit a Portland organization called p:ear.p:ear programs build positive relationships with homeless and transitional youth, through education, art and recreation to affirm personal worth and create more meaningful and healthier lives. Each year p:ear serves more than 350 homeless and transitional young people in the Portland, Oregon area.

There’s nothing but highlights on this one, but some of my favorites are Pat McDonald’s(Timbuk 3) rocking take on The Harder They Come, The Thermal’s smoldering version of Zeppelin’s Tangerine and Britt Daniel’s(Spoon) percussion workout on Bring It On Home to Me.

Buy it. Not only will you get some great music you’ll be investing in a brighter future for someone at the same time.